Albi takes its name from the Arabic word for "my heart," a fitting title for a restaurant built around chef Michael Rafidi's connection to his family's roots in Ramallah, Palestine. The cooking traces back to his grandparents' kitchen, translated into a Navy Yard dining room centered on a wood-burning hearth that nearly every dish passes through at some stage.
The kitchen works from a Palestinian foundation, applying live-fire cooking, fermentation, and spice to peak-season Mid-Atlantic ingredients — Maryland crab, sweet corn, Chesapeake rockfish, and local produce. The Sofra experience is a five-course tasting menu structured as a dialogue between kitchen and guest rather than a fixed script. Diners regularly point to the fattoush, hummus, lamb, and knafeh among the standouts.
Albi has held a Michelin star every year since 2022, and Rafidi won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in 2024 after a finalist nod for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2023. The restaurant has appeared on North America's 50 Best Restaurants list in both 2025 and 2026, was named to Eater's Essential 38, was recognized among Washingtonian's best in 2025, and landed on Robb Report's Best New Restaurants list in 2026.
The kitchen works from a Palestinian foundation, applying live-fire cooking, fermentation, and spice to peak-season Mid-Atlantic ingredients — Maryland crab, sweet corn, Chesapeake rockfish, and local produce. The Sofra experience is a five-course tasting menu structured as a dialogue between kitchen and guest rather than a fixed script. Diners regularly point to the fattoush, hummus, lamb, and knafeh among the standouts.
Albi has held a Michelin star every year since 2022, and Rafidi won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in 2024 after a finalist nod for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2023. The restaurant has appeared on North America's 50 Best Restaurants list in both 2025 and 2026, was named to Eater's Essential 38, was recognized among Washingtonian's best in 2025, and landed on Robb Report's Best New Restaurants list in 2026.